PA then lied, claiming Guterres expressed “understanding” of prisoners’ “suffering,” vowing to “put an end to it”

UN spokesman:

“All of the quotes attributed to the Secretary-General
are fabricated"

Itamar Marcus

The Palestinian Authority entrapped UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres into meeting with the mother of 5 Palestinian terrorists yesterday, and then lied about what happened.

According to a UN spokesman, Guterres was not scheduled to meet the families of terrorist prisoners but were surprised by the sudden request of the PA to meet with “mothers of detained children,” as reported by The Times of Israel:

“At the end of a meeting with Palestinian officials this afternoon in Ramallah, the secretary-general was informed that a group of Palestinian mothers of detained children wanted to give him a petition. Confronted with the situation, he received the group which presented him a petition.”

[The Times of Israel, Aug. 29, 2017]

The PA’s official news agency WAFA presented it differently. It described Guterres’ meeting with parents of prisoners, including Latifa Abu Hmeid, mother of 5 terrorists, 1 who was killed as a “Martyr” and the other 4 who are serving between them 17 life sentences, very routinely, without any reference to it not being on the schedule:

“UN Secretary-General António Guterres met this evening [Aug. 29, 2017] in Ramallah with several families of Palestinian Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners that are sitting in the Israeli occupation’s prisons... Present at the meeting were Latifa Abu Hmeid...”

[WAFA, Aug. 29, 2017]

Moreover, the PA made an outright lie, fictitiously reporting that the UN Secretary-General responded favorably to statements about Palestinian prisoners and that he “understood” their “suffering,” to make it seem like he accepted their claims about the Palestinian terrorist prisoners.

This is what the PA claims to have told Guterres:

“The prisoners’ families demanded that the UN secretary-general act in a serious and concrete manner to save the lives of more than 6,500 Palestinian prisoners and female prisoners sitting in the Israeli occupation’s prisons from the grave violations that the [Israeli] occupation Prison Service perpetrates against them, such as medical neglect, administrative detentions, and the arrest of women, children, and parliament members.”

[WAFA, Aug. 29, 2017]

They also claimed that they gave Guterres a long letter which demanded among other things freedom for the prisoners:

“This freedom begins with the freedom of its prisoners and female prisoners, by saving them from the darkness of prison and oppression.”

Whereas this letter may have been presented to Guterres, the PA’s lie is that it claimed that Guterres responded positively to this by saying:

“We understand the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners. We will work together with the authorized and relevant parties in order to put an end to their suffering.”

[WAFA, Aug. 29, 2017]

The UN spokesman denied that Guterres had said this:

“All of the quotes attributed to the Secretary-General are fabricated."

[Ynet News, Aug. 29, 2017]

The PA’s behavior in entrapping the UN Secretary General and then lying about his “understanding” for the “suffering” of Palestinian terrorist prisoners can be understood within the context of the fundamental disagreement the PA has with the international community and the UN. The PA claims that all Palestinian terrorist prisoners, including murderers of civilians, are all actually “Prisoners of War” who have committed no crimes. The PA for this reason demands they all be released from prison. The international community rejects PA terror and rejects this claim. The PA, it seems, was attempting to create 'fake news' so that it could claim that the UN Secretary-General agrees that Palestinian terrorists should be freed from prison.

In fact, the UN Secretary-General has taken a very strong stand against Palestinian terror and its glorification. Immediately after Palestinian Media Watch reported in May this year that a Palestinian NGO had built a youth center with UN and Norwegian money and named it "The Dalal Mughrabi Center", after the terrorist who led the murder of 37 civilians including 12 children, Guterres released a statement condemning Palestinian terror glorification:

“The United Nations disassociated itself from the Centre once it learned the offensive name chosen for it and will take measures to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future. The glorification of terrorism, or the perpetrators of heinous terrorist acts, is unacceptable under any circumstances... The United Nations support to this community ended last year and it has asked for the logo of UN Women to be removed immediately.”

The Norwegian and Danish Foreign Ministers also condemned the Palestinian action and demanded that their funding be returned. The international community likewise condemns the PA for paying salaries to terrorist prisoners.

In all likelihood, the current PA presentation of Guterres as sympathetic to Palestinian prisoners is intended to break the uniform international condemnation of PA terror support by making it seem the UN Secretary-General supports their claims.

The following is the false statement by the official Palestinian Authority news agency, WAFA:

Headline: “Guterres met with several families of prisoners in the occupation’s prisons”

“UN Secretary-General António Guterres met this evening (Tuesday) in Ramallah with several families of Palestinian Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners that are sitting in the Israeli occupation’s prisons. This was in the presence of PLO Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat, Permanent Observer of Palestine in the UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour, and Director of the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake.

Present at the meeting were Latifa Abu Hmeid, mother of prisoner Nasser Abu Hmeid (who murdered 7), sentenced to 7 life sentences and an additional 20 years, Sharif Abu Hmeid (i.e., who participated in suicide bombing attack), sentenced to 5 life sentences (sic., 4), Muhammad Abu Hmeid (i.e., involved in terror attacks), sentenced to 2 life sentences and an additional 30 years, and Nasr Abu Hmeid (i.e., involved in terror attacks and arms dealing), sentenced to 5 life sentences, the mother of child prisoner Shadi Farah (i.e., terrorist, attempted to stab Israeli), the mother of female child prisoner Malak Al-Ghaliz (i.e., terrorist, arrested with a knife in her hand), and the brother of Martyr Raed Jabr, whose body has been held since 2001 in the numbered cemeteries (i.e., cemeteries for terrorists and enemy soldiers) in Israel.

The prisoners’ families demanded that the UN secretary-general act in a serious and concrete manner to save the lives of more than 6,500 Palestinian prisoners and female prisoners sitting in the Israeli occupation’s prisons from the grave violations that the [Israeli] occupation Prison Service perpetrates against them, such as medical neglect, administrative detentions, and the arrest of women, children, and parliament members...

Karake demanded that the UN secretary-general convene a meeting of the UN General Assembly on the subject of the Palestinian prisoners and the violations against them from the Israeli authorities and their Prison Service.

He also gave him a letter in which was stated: ‘Our Palestinian people - which has suffered from catastrophes that have come one after the other and from a policy of [ethnic] cleansing, and arrests because of the Israeli occupation - extends its hand to you and to all the free people of the world, so that the historical injustice will be stopped, until it achieves its freedom. This freedom begins with the freedom of its prisoners and female prisoners, by saving them from the darkness of prison and oppression, and by guaranteeing the right of our people - freedom, return [of the refugees], and self-determination - as a natural right of a people that is collapsing under the yoke of occupation. The time has come that [Palestine] will achieve its independence, and that its human and national dignity will be preserved, like the rest of the peoples of the world.’

Gutarres said: We understand the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners. We will work together with the authorized and relevant parties in order to put an end to their suffering.’”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Aug. 29, 2017]

Um Nasser Abu Hmeid (Um Yusuf Abu Hmeid/Latifa Abu Hmeid) – Palestinian woman who is famous and admired in the Palestinian Authority for being the mother of 4 terrorist prisoners serving multiple life sentences and another terrorist son whom the PA refers to as a "Martyr." Abu Hmeid is also called Khansa of Palestine, a name that refers to the woman Al-Khansa in the earliest period of Islam who sent her four sons to battle and rejoiced when they all died as Martyrs. Abu Hmeid was honored by the PA in 2010 and in 2015, and was chosen in 2011 to launch the PA’s statehood campaign with the UN.

Her terrorist sons are: Muhammad Abu Hmeid, who is serving 2 life sentences and 30 years for involvement in terror attacks; Nasser Abu Hmeid, who is serving 7 life sentences and 50 years for murdering 7 Israeli civilians and 12 attempted murders; Nasr Abu Hmeid, who is serving 5 life sentences for involvement in two terror attacks in which 4 were murdered and arms dealing; Sharif Abu Hmeid, who is serving 4 life sentences for involvement in terror attacks in which 4 were murdered; Abd Al-Mun'im Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hmeid, who murdered 1 on Feb. 13, 1994, and was killed by Israeli military undercover agents on May 31, 1994.

Raed Barghouti (also known as Raed Jabr) - suicide bomber who blew himself up on the Street of the Prophets in Jerusalem on Sept. 4, 2001, wounding about 20 people.

The Cemeteries for Enemy Casualties are two burial sites maintained by the Israeli army for burying the bodies of enemy soldiers as well as terrorists. They are fenced and well-marked. Graves have markers instead of gravestones. Burial is temporary, on the assumption that the bodies will eventually be returned to their countries of origin. No ceremony is held. The bodies are buried in numbered caskets after their identities are documented.